Ancobon News

FRIDAY, Nov. 4, 2016 – Federal health officials say 13 cases of a potentially deadly, drug-resistant fungal infection have been reported in the United States. Four of those cases ended in death, but health officials said it's not clear if the deaths were due to the infection or the patients' underlying health conditions. Candida auris fungal infection is emerging as a health threat worldwide, and it appears to spread in hospitals and other health care facilities, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We need to act now to better understand, contain and stop the spread of this drug-resistant fungus," CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said in an agency news release. "This is an emerging threat, and we need to protect vulnerable patients and others." Of the 13 U.S. cases reported between May 2013 and August 2016, seven are described in the CDC's Nov. 4 Morbidity ... Read more

A groundbreaking agreement between the drug industry and governments to work together to fight drug-resistant "superbugs" is expected to be announced Thursday. Under the deal, 74 drug makers, 11 diagnostic test makers, and nine industry groups pledge to work with each other and 16 countries to prevent and improve treatment of drug-resistant infections, the Associated Press reported. These infections are a serious threat to millions of people worldwide and a number of factors contribute to the problem, including overuse of antibiotics, declining drug industry research, and few new medicines to combat bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi. The new deal – scheduled to be announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland – is the first to outline how the drug industry and governments should team up to prevent more drugs from becoming ineffective, to spur development of new ... Read more

TUESDAY, Aug. 4, 2015 – An immediate, focused effort to halt the spread of antibiotic-resistant germs could save tens of thousands of lives and prevent hundreds of thousands of new infections over the next five years, a new government report suggests. As many as 37,000 lives could be saved, and 619,000 new infections prevented, if community health departments and health care facilities form tight support networks to quickly identify and address emerging outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, said report author Dr. John Jernigan. He directs the Office of HAI (Health care-Associated Infections) Prevention Research and Evaluation at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "When health care facilities and health departments in a community work together to share information about resistance, and then use that information to guide and target prevention efforts, then we ... Read more

WEDNESDAY, April 3 – A drug regimen containing two powerful antifungal medicines – amphotericin B and flucytosine – reduced the risk of dying from cryptococcal meningitis by 40 percent compared to treatment with amphotericin B alone, according to new research. The study also found that those who survived the illness were less likely to be disabled if they received treatment that included flucytosine. "Combination antifungal therapy with amphotericin and flucytosine for HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis significantly reduces the risk of dying from this disease," said the study's lead author, Dr. Jeremy Day, head of the CNS-HIV Infections Group for the Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Program in Vietnam. "This combination could save 250,000 deaths across Africa and Asia each year. The key to achieving this will be improving access to the antifungal agent flucytosine," said Day, also ... Read more

THURSDAY, Nov. 18 – Knowing when to take antibiotics – and when not to – can help fight the rise of deadly "superbugs," say experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About half of antibiotics prescribed are unnecessary or inappropriate, the agency says, and overuse has helped create bacteria that don't respond, or respond less effectively, to the drugs used to fight them. "Antibiotics are a shared resource that has become a scarce resource," said Dr. Lauri Hicks, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC. She's also medical director a of new program, Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work, that had its launch this week. "Everyone has a role to play in preventing the spread of antibiotic resistance," Hicks said. The stakes are high, said Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, CDC's associate director for health care-associated infection prevention programs. Almost every type of bacteria ... Read more